The crisis rocking the Edo State House of Assembly escalated on Saturday, as thugs numbering over 50 stormed the Legislators’ Quarters apartment of the lawmakers, shooting sporadically and damaging about 40 vehicles.
Only on Thursday when President Goodluck Jonathan visited Benin to lay the foundation of a $1 billion Azura power project, some youths had stormed the Benin Airport to protest Tuesday attack on a lawmaker, Hon Abdul Rasaq Momoh (Etsako West I), within the premises of the Legislators’ Quarters.
The thugs, who carried out the attack at about 7:00 a.m., were said to have met little resistance at the entrance gate to the quarters, vandalising every vehicle in sight.
The thugs also fired some shots at some windows and doors in some of the apartments.
The thugs, who spent about 40 minutes inside the quarters were, however, reportedly prevented from gaining entrance into the compound of the Assembly Speaker, Hon Uyi Igbe, by policemen attached to him.
An aide to one of the lawmakers, who witnessed the attack, said the attackers said they did not come to kill anyone but to register their presence.
“They said they were not interested in killing anyone and that if they had wanted to kill, nobody would have been spared,” he said.
However, Governor Adams Oshiomhole, who visited the legislator quarters at about 11:00 a.m., blamed the police and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the attack, saying that the PDP carried out the attack and the police allowed it.
“It is very clear that the police granted permission for this attack. The Commissioner of Police was informed at about 10:00pm last night of the plan of the PDP to attack the legislative quarters and the APC office.
“You can see that even the minimal police presence here was evacuated so that these thugs can come and have a free reign of terror,” the governor alleged.
However, the leadership of the Edo State PDP, at a media briefing in Benin on Saturday, washed its hands clean of allegations that its leaders masterminded the attack on the legislators’ quarters.
State chairman of the party, Chief Dan Orbih, who addressed journalists, said no meeting was held late on Friday night where they plotted the attack, pointing out that the only business his party conducted on Friday was to welcome President Goodluck Jonathan to Edo State.
“There is no truth whatsoever in the governor’s allegations. After welcoming Mr President to Edo State on Friday, many of us went to our houses, had a light dinner and went to bed.
“It is common knowledge that what happened may have been borne out of the attack on Hon Rasaq Momoh and the fact that those accused are now free today. What happened this morning was not the work of our party. We believe in the ability of the law enforcement agencies to deal with the situation,” he said.
He added it was regrettable that days after the attack on Hon Momoh, “Governor Adams Oshiomhole has not deemed it fit to condemn the attack on an elected member of the Edo State House of Assembly, adding that “miscreants and officially known thugs are now part of the Edo State government occupying offices.”
Meanwhile, uncertainty has continued to reign over the health status of the attacked lawmaker, as rumors of his death spread like wildfire throughout Saturday.
At the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH) where he was admitted, leaders of the PDP, who paid him a visit, were not allowed to see him as authorities of the hospital requested they secure approval of the Chief Medical Director (CMD) before they could see him.
It was gathered that his condition deteriorated in the early hours of Saturday, even as some of his family members have reportedly started mourning his feared loss.
Source: Tribune
